Pep vs Tito

I’d like to concentrate on our (the people’s) perception on a small part of current football. In this case, I’m talking about Josep Guardiola vs Tito Vilanova. I’d like to point out the differences between the Pep’s Barcelona and Tito’s Barcelona – tactically and holistically speaking.

On the 27^th of May 2009 Barcelona FC won an historic champions league trophy under the leadership of the ‘Dream Team’ captain Josep Guardiola. The ‘Dream Team’ of 1992 that won the club its first Champions League trophy in Wembley. This time though, he led the team from the dugout. The beginning of the Guardiola era was not as smooth as the beginnings of the some of the more fortunate managers in the more recent history of the club. After failing to win his first 2 games in the league in disappointing fashion, criticism and questions seemed to go hand-in-hand for Guardiola. However, with time things started looking up, and boy did they look up. However, a point to note was, that even after Pep won all that he won in his first season in charge of FC Barcelona, there were those people who said that his predecessor (Frank Rijkaard) handed him the team he used to attain such great success. The years following would silence those people (for a while at least).

Pep has not been forgotten, therefore criticism still remains. However, FC Barcelona now has Tito Vilanova. Tito is different from Pep. At first sight, the Barcelona line-up looks very similar to the one deployed by Pep. However, there ARE differences. They are subtle differences (very subtle indeed). These differences are only noticeable for those who search for them. However, I’d like to point out the main similarity: Both teams have game changers in all positions. That has been, and still is FC Barcelona’s greatest strength.

THE DIFFERENCES:

Firstly, from a new coach’s perspective, Tito is now suffering from a very odd situation. He is being criticized for seemingly carrying on the work that Pep had started with. Usually, successful coaches do not often leave a club. This has left Tito with the predicament of meeting up with the high standards expected of him, and to assert his personality, as a coach, on the squad he now manages. What makes this worse is the common perception of: ‘Why fix what is not broken?’ This is what has led to the subtle changes that I was talking about earlier on. I’d like to take a bold stance and suggest that these subtle changes are what have given the club its best ever start to a La Liga campaign. They are subtle differences. And these differences are what has made this team more dominant. The little details are what helped teams succeed against Barcelona in previous seasons. Tito has changed these details.

Full-Backs or Wing-Backs? (Attacking from BOTH sides)

Firstly, he now has three ultra-attacking full-backs. Dani Alves, Alba and Adriano have more important roles in helping the club succeed than in previous seasons. This is aided by the fact that all these players have, at some point in their careers, played as left or right midfielders Alba and Adriano started their careers as midfield players, while Alves had been given the freedom of galloping up and down the right flank during the Guardiola era. This gives them that extra attacking instinct and an improved timing in choosing when to attack. However, knowledge isn't all there is. Tito is using BOTH full-backs to attack now. During the Pep era, it was noticed that only one of the two full-backs would move forward to widen the pitch.

Also, to elaborate on the point of the full-backs, they are more encouraged to cut into the box under Tito. This is reflected in the number of goals already scored by Alba and Adriano (especially) and the lack of goals scored by the two wider forwards who are then commissioned to supply for others, rather than score. Further evidence of this, is the fact to note that Villa is the highest scoring wide player for Barcelona, since he has the naturally tendency to cut-in rather than play wide. This forces his full-back wide and limits their goal-ward chances when Villa is playing. En fin, Tito gives his full-backs more freedom which helps pin opponents in their own side.

Defence Vulnerability

The full-backs advancing has had a predictable negative effect though. This being the exposure of the Barcelona back line. Whenever Pep went into the ultra-attacking mode, he had a fitter Pique and Puyol in the back with a dominant Keita or Touré protecting them. Tito does not have this protection, and still pushes the team forward. Of course, it could be argued that the absence of Pique and Puyol due to injury has contributed to that. However, note that Tito pushes his team even further forward even when Song and Mascherano were in the back together (the worst emergency pairing made by Tito in my opinion). This changes the objective of the team to ‘simply’ outscore their opponents which forces the full-backs even further forward, and leaves the defence even more vulnerable.

Positional Discipline & Redefining Roles

Upon reflecting on his first few months with Barcelona, Cesc stated that he felt that he had to be more positionally disciplined than during his time at Arsenal. With Tito, you get the feeling that the team, as a whole, is required to be even-more positionally disciplined than under Pep. I’m going to use one particular example, which demonstrates three things: the changing of a player’s behaviour on the pitch, re-redefining his role, and a higher sense of positional responsibility, to emphasize this. I will use Mascherano’s presence in the back-line to demonstrate this. Mascherano is, in my opinion, still not good enough to cover as centre-back for any world class team. However, not every defender can be a Barcelona defender, but Mascherano can. Here, Mascherano’s main purpose is distribution. Mascherano’s role is very well defined, such that it is evident in his team-mates awkward positions and runs when he behaves otherwise. In the previous game against Levante Mascherano was obviously being used for distribution rather than Puyol. Yes, Mascherano evidently does have a greater distribution range, however, Puyol may have passed the ball forward only 4 or 5 times during his time on the pitch. Hence, when the roles were re-distributed on Tito’s paper, the same task was not given to more than one player if it was not necessary. Also, rash tackles have disappeared from his game. This has led to less bookings and more availability when required. He is no longer used to ‘fill-in’ at centre-back, he brings something different to the table than Puyol or Pique.

The Mad Rush

We’ve seen this many times in teams with great character. Manchester United under Sir Alex Ferguson, Turkey under Fetih Terim (during Euro 2008), Inter Milan (under Mourinho), Roma this season: the desire and hunger to win are there to see in these teams. Every football fan in the world wants a team with character. This Barcelona team, I feel, has that. It shows when they’re loosing. It shows when they are in search of a goal. The last minute goal against Celtic in the first leg felt like Stamford Bridge 2008 (albeit to a lesser extent). All coaches say in press conferences that they treat each game as if it is a final. I feel this with this team. It shows in the coach as well. Tito has already pulled off defenders to play forwards in their place. Tito seems to care less about the balance of the team (a Pep obsession) and more about pushing to get what the team and fans want: a thrilling and happy ending to the game. As for the player’s motivation, it maybe something Tito has instilled in them, or it may be Mourinho. This Barcelona is much less about the football romanticism and more about intricate football efficiency. Whichever way, I believe that is another large factor in contributing to the best ever start Barcelona has in a league campaign.

Tito has been able to place these players in positions and to assign to them tasks which acknowledge their individual strength and avoid their weaknesses. This has made the players more confident in their abilities and has given them more self-belief which is translated on the pitch as a desire to win, win and win. In short, this is a tactically tweaked machine with character.

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PS: I apologize for not updating very often. (That may explain why the article is quite long). I will step it up from now onwards.